1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to rakes and in particular but not exclusively to rakes for use by golfers and stowable in their golf bags.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Rakes are used by golfers to smooth out footprints and signs of play in the sand of bunkers and for this purpose rakes are often provided at bunker positions for general use. Rakes have also proved themselves useful to golfers for searching for lost balls in long grass and among leaves and also for retrieving balls lying in ditches, streams and other golfing hazards. However, since it is normally impracticable to carry a rake in a golf bag along with the clubs because of the awkward shape of the rake head, use of a rake for finding and retrieving balls has been limited to locations close to bunkers at which a rake has been provided.
In order to overcome the problem of stowage presented by the normal form of rake, it has been proposed in British Pat. No. 599,099 to divide the rake head into two portions pivotal about a common axis to fold back against the shaft of the rake. Such an arrangement has in practice a number of disadvantages including that the two head portions cannot fold back flat against the shaft because of the use of a common pivot axis. Furthermore, the stowed rake is bulky where the head portions are folded around the shaft and does not easily fit into a golf bag already holding a number of clubs.